


if i break the glass then i’ll have to fly

by CassandraStarflower



Series: (oh) is this death or rebirth [1]
Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence S2 E8 - H is for Hunted, Gen, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassandraStarflower/pseuds/CassandraStarflower
Summary: “It changes everything.It does not change anything.In one single critical moment, the girl who does not yet have a name sees the lightning and makes a decision.”---What if Will’s Altermere lived?
Relationships: Will Vandom & Will Vandom, minor Matt Olsen/Will Vandom
Series: (oh) is this death or rebirth [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2109747
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	if i break the glass then i’ll have to fly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [selenestarflower](https://archiveofourown.org/users/selenestarflower/gifts).



> This is in a somewhat experimental style, writing in present tense and trying to use as few line breaks as possible. But I think it turned out alright!  
> Title from Shatter Me by Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale.

It changes everything. 

It does not change anything. 

In one single critical moment, the girl who does not yet have a name sees the lightning and makes a decision. 

She yanks on Will, hard, and the two of them fall to the side. The lightning crackles across a display board and the nameless girl thinks that someone will have to fix it later. 

Irma, Taranee and Cornelia go flying towards the sorceress, but she flees. 

The girl sits up. Will groans and follows suit, looking toward the remnant of the fold, then toward the display board. 

“You saved me…” she says. 

“Of course.” the girl says. “That’s what sisters do, right?” 

Will blinks and smiles, taking the girl’s hand. “Yeah, I guess so.” 

That is not to say that things are easy now. The girl chooses a name - Mina, because their name was Wilhelmina and Will has one part of it, so Mina takes another. 

They switch off who goes to school and sleeps at home and who hangs out with Caleb and Elyon in Meridian. 

It’s nice, but difficult. Mina loves life so very much, and loves her mother and sister and friends, but it’s hard, being one half of a person. 

They can’t exactly claim to be twins, after all. Mom wouldn’t buy it. 

But it’s still nice. 

The sun shines down on Mina’s face as she settles against a bench, smiling. 

They did have to talk to Matt about it. They were trying to figure out how to handle _that_ situation, since both Will and Mina loved him and remembered dating him and all. 

But it’s nice. 

Even when they know that there is a sorceress after them. 

Even when they know that they will need to fight her. 

There is a _reason_ she gave Mina life, and that reason is a bad one. She wanted Mina to kill Will and take her place. 

And Mina almost did. 

It’s a mistake she vows to never make again. 

\---

Queen Elyon was taken by the sorceress. 

Mina stays on Earth while the rest go to Kandrakar seeking answers. It’s not like the Oracle and the Council don’t already know about her. But Kandrakar is so strange and they look at her with narrowed eyes. 

She’s living proof of Will’s choice to use her powers for a selfish reason and of the sorceress’ ability to take advantage of that. 

Learning the truth about the sorceress makes it worse. 

Because now Mina is living proof of the ways in which a Keeper of the Heart can falter. 

She refuses to be seen as that forever. 

When Matt disappears, she is certain from the start that something is very wrong. Will keeps calling him, and he never picks up. 

He doesn’t come back. Shagon does. 

Will believes that Shagon did something to Matt. Hurt him or locked him away. 

Mina thinks that Shagon _is_ Matt. 

She doesn’t give voice to this belief. Will doesn’t need that. Mina can hurt Shagon, even knowing that he may well be Matt. Will could never. She is too kind for that. 

Mina is not Will, and the differences become more and more glaringly obvious as time goes on. 

She is harder. Capable of shutting off her emotions and ignoring the damage that she does. 

Will can’t do that. She is a capable leader and has such a big heart, and she needs to have a big heart and be full of goodness and love, because she needs to be the opposite of Nerissa in every way. 

But sometimes Mina wonders whether she took something with her when they became two different people. 

\---

They lost Halinor. And Kadma. 

And sometimes… well. 

Mina is living proof that Nerissa is capable of creating the perfect clone of a person, with all their memories and everything. 

Maybe it really is Yan Lin. Maybe not. Mina doesn’t trust easily, though, and she wonders. Those tiny minute differences, so like the ones between Will and Mina. 

Nerissa destroys her Knights and Mina stares at the scattering of stardust quickly fading away on the rooftop while Will and Matt reunite behind her. 

Why would Nerissa destroy her Knights? When only Matt and Mr. Huggles had turned on her and broken free. Why destroy Ember and Tridart? 

_What has Nerissa done?_

It doesn’t make sense. But this is something of a victory. So Mina doesn’t spoil it. 

It is Mina’s turn to go to school today, and maybe it is a good thing. Stacey. Will would be afraid to say anything about her, after Mr. Collins and Serena. 

But Stacey. 

Stacey is a nightmare image, really, as most of the boys and many of the girls stare in near-drooling awe at the _woman_ sauntering into the cafeteria. 

Stacey is not a girl. Too tall, too old, too… 

The eyes. 

Mina stares at the eyes. 

“She’s Nerissa.” she says to the others, in the kitchen. Will has joined them, now, eyes narrowed. Hopefully, no one will come in and see the two Wills. 

“What?” Cornelia asks. 

“Her-” Mina starts. 

But then there’s Yan Lin. Or not Yan Lin. 

“I saw her Quintessence that pudding you’re wearing.” 

The kitchen explodes with voices. 

But Yan Lin (or maybe not) has a plan. 

_Steal the Seal._

Mina doesn’t trust that she’s telling the truth. 

“Don’t you remember what happened when Caleb tried to take the Heart of Meridian?” she asks her friends. 

_Steal the Seal of Nerissa_. 

“And what happened when Kadma absorbed the Heart of Meridian into the Heart of Zamballa?” 

Will frowns and tilts her head. “Right. We _can’t_ steal the Seal…” 

“Then why did Grandma suggest it?” Hay Lin asks. 

No one has an answer. Mina bites her lip. 

“We can still try.” Will says finally. “We need to find out what she’s up to.” 

“No good.” Mina says darkly, and with that they make for the mall. 

The guard doesn’t let them in until Irma does some mind-manipulation, and they’re careful to make sure that anyone they meet won’t pass the two-Wills thing on to someone else. 

Then the manager appears, and they are shooed into the changing rooms to put on costumes. 

Mina picks at her white sleeve, iridescent fake wings draped across her back and dragging a bit on the floor. 

She makes a mental note of how they come off and follows the rest of them to where Nerissa is. 

They’re all too fixated on the Seal. They don’t see the trap until it’s too late. 

The other old Guardians. Young again. 

Mina should have realized. 

She unclasps the wings and flings them into Halinor’s face - in here, with everything so flammable, she is most dangerous. 

Will cries out behind her and Nerissa laughs. 

“Now, now, no leveling the playing field.” 

Mina turns, eyes wide, to see Will slumping against a washing machine, Irma barely holding back Cassidy’s spout of water, Cornelia diving behind a couch to dodge silverware, and Hay Lin being sucked towards the vent. Taranee is raising burning fists towards Nerissa, but the woman is smiling away, so very pleased with herself, smug and secure in her superiority. 

Matt lunges towards Hay Lin and Mina quickly runs to Will. 

“Get us out of here!” Matt shouts at Will, who stirs, eyes fluttering. Mina seizes the Heart and opens a fold as the others run forward. 

Behind them, Halinor rips off the gauzy cloth at last and lunges forward. 

Mina lifts her sister and the six of them leap through the fold. It closes just in time. 

Hay Lin is utterly shattered by the apparent betrayal and the only comfort that Mina can offer is this: 

“What if that’s not Yan Lin?” 

They all stare at her and she pointedly coughs and waves a hand at herself. 

“Oh!” Irma says. “You think that she’s an Altermere?”

“It’s a possibility.” 

“Then where’s my grandma?” Hay Lin croaks, hugging herself tightly. Mina would bet that if you pulled her fingers from her shoulders there would be nail marks left behind. 

“Inside the Seal!” Will says, eyes widening. “Like Elyon!” 

Hay Lin gives a little shudder. “How do we save them?” 

“We fight.” Matt lays a hand on Hay Lin’s shoulder, eyes hard. 

Mina puts her hand over Hay Lin’s and peels her fingers from her shoulders. The tiny crescent marks in the Air Guardian’s flesh slowly fade. 

\---

Nerissa runs from the battle because Hay Lin had enough. 

Mina is impressed. Then again, Hay Lin has always been stronger than people give her credit for. See when she blasted Phobos into a wall while weak from giving her grandmother some of her life force. 

Hay Lin also gets her guy when she saves Eric from Nerissa. 

This is less important than beating Nerissa, but still perfectly important. 

After all, Hay Lin was already upset because of Nerissa luring the poor guy. 

Mina thinks that maybe, just maybe, they can win this. 

…

And then Lillian Hale gives her cat the power of speech and they are thrown straight into the deep end handling an all-powerful eight-year-old. 

Mina volunteers to stay along with Matt to keep an eye on the tiny goddess. 

And _that’s not Cornelia_ who’s come back and goes to talk to Lillian. It’s _not_.

She lurks just outside the door and bursts in with Mr. Huggles when “Cornelia” starts in with the “let’s share everything” talk, and Matt is quick to nab “Cornelia” and pull her out of the room. Lillian blinks behind them, clearly confused. 

The real Cornelia arrives a moment later, scowling at Nerissa. 

Because it is Nerissa, who sighs and deglamours. “You can’t protect her forever.” 

Cornelia fumes at that. And then promptly messes up when Lillian emerges from her room. 

Mina was an only child before she came into existence. She has no advice for Cornelia. She leaves it to Irma. 

They leave the apartment building, walk a few blocks. And suddenly Mina is alone, the others gone. 

She panics. Turns, thinking of heading to the apartment again and finding Matt and Cornelia.

Taranee’s voice sounds sharply in her mind. **Don’t come back to the penthouse. Lillian’s powers are out of control and we’re trying to fix it, but if you come here you’ll get caught in it too.**

Mina exhales shakily. **Okay.**

She sits down on a park bench and hugs her knees to her chest. She’s so out of her depth here. She’s only existed for a few months and she loves existing, she does. 

She’ll never be sorry for choosing to pull Will out of the way instead of taking the blow. 

Living is amazing. She gets to feel the sun on her skin, hug her mother and her sister and her friends, breathe and run and laugh, and _live_. 

She refuses to give it up. 

They _will_ stop Nerissa. Or Mina will… 

Do something drastic. She’s not sure what. 

Something. 

The others come back eventually. Apparently, Lillian made Cornelia’s bedtime story real. 

“And now Matt and Mr. Huggles and Napoleon are her Regents, so they have her powers.” Irma explains. 

“That’s good.” Mina says. They have two Hearts now. Two to two. It’s even. 

It won’t be for long. 

They all know it. 

It’s Will who remembers Phobos. But it’s Mina who comes up with the oath. 

A safeguard against what they _know_ Phobos will do. 

Somehow, Nerissa discovers what they’ve done, and sends her mind-controlled Guardians after them. 

Mina went with the others when Will stormed off. So she’s here now, with them, and that evens things up a bit. 

Even if she doesn’t exactly have the Heart. 

“Will!” shouts Taranee from somewhere behind her when she narrowly avoids a fireball. Mina’s heart twists. 

They try so hard, but she knows that sometimes they only see Will. 

Taranee apologizes, later, but she’s not the first one to call Mina Will and she won’t be the last. It’s the name she uses every day that she goes to school, every day she spends at home with Mom or Dad and Serena. 

It hurts, yes, but it’s not a big deal. Really. 

(So what if sometimes Mina just wants her own identity? She’s not _real_.)

(Well, she is. But she has no legal identity. She _is_ Wilhelmina Vandom, and that’s that.)

Mina’s pretty sure that there are too many Phoboses. And Matt isn’t acting like Matt. 

The plan comes clear when Nerissa’s Guardians attack at the pool. Matt doesn’t transform or do anything, really, and Phobos screams in a very undignified, very unPhobos, manner when Kadma telekinetically grabs the cart he’s hiding in. 

And then Will dunks Cassidy and finds out that they could break the mind control. 

Mina watches as the former Guardians wake up. 

And as Nerissa appears. 

Oh, how Mina _loathes_ her. 

Mina’s hands crackle with electricity, but it’s too late. Cassidy, Halinor, Kadma, and the other who may have been Yan Lin are sucked into the Seal and Nerissa becomes a god. 

And then they discover that Phobos has been pretending to be Matt for several days. 

Well. 

Nerissa flees the pool and Mina surveys the wreckage. It’s a mess, pool water splashed up onto the walls and ceiling, lane lines ripped up and flung out of the pool, kickboards scattered across the floor and water. 

Mina pities the janitor who has to clean it all up. 

\---

Phobos bargains for the release of two more villains, Cedric and Miranda. 

It’s a bad idea, but it’s the only one they have. 

Nerissa is too powerful now. 

But of course, things can never go well for them. Napoleon tells them that if Nerissa kills him before midnight on Halloween, she can steal the Heart of Earth. 

So naturally, they need to protect him. 

It would have gone way better if Phobos weren’t Phobos. 

But as it is, Mina manages to get one single good shot with the lightning in before he vanishes with the Seal. 

She hopes it fucking _hurts_ . She hopes he feels it for the rest of his _life_ . Lightning can leave really bad burns and she hopes the scar will _never_ go away. 

And now the war is so much harder. 

Mina is not one to dwell on what-ifs, but she truly worries for how much worse it could have been without an extra Guardian. 

Phobos is relentless and all seven of them, the girls and Matt, are dragging. 

Skipping school occasionally, flunking tests, their parents getting worried. 

Fair enough. 

Mina would rather Phobos _not_ attack during school hours, but since when does a tyrannical prince with infinite power make things easier for his opponents?

_Hah_. 

As if. 

Mina is exhausted. 

Poor Hay Lin nearly crumbles when faced with the prospect of needing an entire painting by tonight. While the rest leave, Mina sits down next to Hay Lin. 

“What do you think Meridian will look like once we win and Elyon is restored to the throne?” she asks. Hay Lin hesitates, closing her eyes. 

Then she opens her eyes and paints. 

The finished product is beautiful. A shining golden palace with banners fluttering from every tower, a beautiful waterfall tumbling from the base. Green fields in every direction, forests and villages and sunshine. 

Hay Lin wins the competition, narrowly beating out Clubber. 

Who knew a jerk like him was capable of making a peaceful painting of bunnies? 

And then they have to go, because the Infinite City is under attack. 

They don’t win. 

Instead, they flee to the ruins of Kandrakar, and they lose Caleb and Blunk. 

Will explains their plan to the rebels and Mina pinches her mouth into a thin line. 

She stays on Kandrakar, and she is there when Will sends Caleb and Blunk safely through a fold. 

Mina doesn’t know how they’re going to win this. 

What if Phobos doesn’t do what they expect? What if any one of the number of loose threads and wild cards acts in a way they didn’t anticipate? 

What if, what if, what if. 

The Guardians arrive in a rush with Matt and the news that Phobos is attacking and they telepathically contacted Elyon. 

Mina doesn’t have time to think about that, because Will is transforming her and the ragged army is preparing for the final battle against Phobos. 

Hopefully the final battle, because if they have to fight him one more time, Mina _will_ murder him herself. 

The massive fold opens. Phobos’ army attacks. 

They lose. 

On purpose. 

Mina realizes what is about to happen a moment before it does. Her sister is watching Phobos. She is watching Cedric and sees the gleam of triumph in his eyes. 

Something more than what you might expect. And why would Cedric be remotely fond of the prince who cast him aside? 

_A fraction of your power_. 

The words, the phrasing, Mina has thrown herself into researching Permission Magic and its laws and suddenly she _knows-_

She leaps into the air, hurls herself toward Cedric, lightning flashing from her hands- 

He looks, he lifts his arm- 

Just a single moment of distraction.

It is enough. 

Phobos crosses the border between Meridian and Kandrakar. 

He loses every ounce of his power and the room is seven people more crowded. 

Cedric, roaring with rage, swats Mina aside and she strikes a wall, crashing through it, and can’t breathe, her ribs on fire. 

She blacks out. 

When she comes to, she learns that between Elyon, Kadma, Matt, and the other Guardians, they easily put down the Meridian armies and put them back where they belonged. 

Nerissa has been forced into slumber by Cassidy. 

The Council of Kandrakar has been freed, and they _won_. 

The hard part is yet to come. 

\---

Susan Vandom walks into Kandrakar filled with confusion and awe and fear. 

She leaves with two daughters and a head buzzing with new information. 

Will and Mina walk with her, and the Council promises to help fake documents for Mina. 

The girl who has a name smiles up at the sun, arm looped through her sister’s, and breathes.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas, Sophie!  
> And happy holidays to anyone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas!  
> Follow me on tumblr @cassandra-starflower!


End file.
